Republican Nebraska bans death penalty

Nebraska has become the first ‘red State’ since 1973 to abolish the death penalty after state legislators banded together to overrule a veto by Governor Pete Ricketts.

With this decision, Nebraska becomes the 19th US state to abolish capital punishment.

Capital Punishment is still legal in 31 states, but there are about 10 in which a moratorium on executions has been imposed.

The abolition of capital punishment in Nebraska is especially significant given that it is the first conservative state to do so in more than 40 years and it comes at a moment in which the appropriateness of the death penalty is being increasingly questioned.

Nebraska lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. Its largest city is Omaha, which is on the Missouri River. The state has more underground water reserves than any other state in the continental U.S.